My name is Mark Van Doren and the HCA recently asked me if I’d take on the roll as HCA Division 9 Chairman. Some of you have corresponded with me via email and the Hobie Forum, my username is “MVD”. I look forward to meeting and sailing with guys over the course of the summer. One of the things that I’ve enjoyed over the years is camaraderie with other Hobie sailors, particularly at Hobie regattas. I don’t have to tell you that there hasn’t been a sanctioned Hobie Class Association regatta in our area for several years and some of the fleets have become inactive. I’ve spoken with several folks about that and there seems to be several reasons. The most common one cited has been that HCA “Hobie Only” rule drove a wedge between the HCA and other cat sailors that most of us Hobie folks enjoyed sailing with. I’d like to work towards rebuilding HCA participation within the construct of the current realities of multihull sailing in Division 9. As I see it, one of the best things that we can do is to partner with the EMSA (Eastern Multihull Sailing Association) and the yacht clubs in our region rather than try to go off in our own direction. I think we’ve seen that approach fail in Division 9. I hope that we can work with regatta organizers to establish HCA sanctioned Hobie Points Regattas within the framework of existing regattas. All you need are enough Hobies to have their own start, regardless of what other boats are in attendance, whether they have one hull or two. The HCA has written a new “Yacht Club Rule” and an “F18 Inclusion Policy” that will help build and maintain relationships with other sailors. Maybe they’ll want to join us on Hobies. Hopefully, we can create a win-win situation: increased Hobie one-design racing while increasing the total attendance in support of EMSA or Yacht Club events.

I’ve contacted a few of the of the folks listed as Division 9 Fleet contacts in the Hotline. Most don’t have email addresses listed. I hope to contact more over the next few weeks, but I’m concerned that the list is outdated and I know that at least some of the fleets have become inactive. The Fleets listed in the Hotline and their commodores are:

If any of you know these folks, please contact them and help me get in touch with them. These are folks with Hobie experience that I would love to see become active in a revitalized Division 9. Let’s use the Division 9 section of the Hobie Forum as our bulletin board.

On another note, I just pre-registered for Spring Fever at Lake Hartwell, GA, and I hope that we can recruit a bunch of Hobies to attend. I’ve got three Hobies, but I’ll bring my 16 to this one. I am going to focus on sailing the 16 this season for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I think that growth in the Hobie ranks hinges on the popularity of the H16 (the Wave will also be important as a starter boat) since it’s currently the only glass Hobie sold in the states other than the expensive Wild Cat (I’d love to see some at Spring Fever). For another, I hope to compete at the Hobie North American Championships in Galveston this year and I need time on the water in the H16. Please don’t get the impression that I’m a hot shot racer, I’m not, but I enjoy making steady progress. You guys will like sailing against me, I routinely do stupid things and am pretty easy to beat.

At Spring Fever, I’d like to have a meeting with all the Hobie sailors, whether they hale from Division 9 or not. Saturday evening looks like the best day. I’d like to get some ideas from you guys as to what you want our Division to look like. I’d like to see some HCA sponsored regattas, whether they’re stand alone or run in conjunction with established events. There are probably other things we can do as well. One thing we can consider is how to recruit new sailors, especially kids. Once we get some sanctioned HCA events going, a Divisional Point championship would be fun. I’m open to any ideas you guys have that might help invigorate Hobie sailing.

I look forward to getting feedback from you guys and meeting as many of you as I can at events this year, starting with Spring Fever. Here’s the link to their site, http://www.twinhulls.com/springfever/, click on the 2013 icon, please pass it along. In case any of you are really fired up, here’s a link to the Ocean Springs MS Yacht Club, host of the Hobie Midwinters East, http://www.osyc.com/, and to the NOR, http://www.hcana.hobieclass.com/site/ho ... %20NOR.pdf. I’m also going to work to generate some Hobie enthusiasm over here in Knoxville. A fall regatta here may become reality, we’ll see.

My 16 is a Seabreeze, yellow, lime green and blue sail. Find it at Spring Fever and come over and say hello.

I have a H18 and sail out of Lake Lanier (near Atlanta, GA). From the list of fleets it looks like I am in Division 9, Atlanta fleet.

I have never raced my Hobie but have a lot of small boat (collegiate dingys) and windsurfer racing experience from years ago. I might consider doing some racing in the Hobie 18. My concern is that my boat is not class legal as I have SX wings, a solid alum mast and non-Hobie tramp. Would I be able to race in a Hobie 18 class or not? I have read different opinions on this with most saying that the other racers are just happy to have another H18 on the line and they do not care but if someone wants to get picky I could be protested out of the race. This has kept me from even trying to race my boat.

I love the wings on my boat (very comfortable and I very rarely use the traps) and do not have the funds or interest in changing the mast and tramp.

Thanks for reading my wordy post. Since you live in GA, you are squarely in Division 9 territory.

Regarding your H18, your are correct that your boat isn't class legal for the reasons that you state. My philosohy, however, is one of inclusion rather than exclusion, but, we must take into consideration that you may show up at a regatta and compete against other sailors who have made efforts to comply with the class rules and I wouldn't want to put them at a disadvantage. Your wings give your boat a heavy air advantage over boats without wings.

If you showed up at a Division 9 HCA points regatta, I wouldn't turn you away. I'd let you sail under the stipulation that you'd be out there racing for fun and camaraderie, however, as far as official scoring is concerned, you'd get a DSQ for each race. That way, you'd get to race, the other competitors would benefit from having another boat in the fleet compete against, but you wouldn't put rules compliant boats at a disadvantage regarding official scoring and points accumulation. I'd be up for letting you compete this way for a season, we could call it a grace period, but after that the expectation would be that you'd need to become compliant with HCA rules. If the mast were your only issue, I think we could overlook that as long as the other competitors were ok with it and there were no overhead power lines around. But if someone protested you, there's no way you'd prevail and you'd be sailing for fun and not points. I can't guarantee that someone wouldn't protest.

Even at non-HCA races, the expectation is that boats will comply with their class rules, whether it's a Hobie, a Laser, a J-22, or whatever. I would think that the organizers of other events would handle the situation in a similar fashion, but I can't speak for them.

In a nutshell, I'm up for cutting a guy some slack up to a point. Kids get more slack. I hope this helps.

Given the current state of Div. 9, it would be a silly to discourage ANY willing participant from joining an event. Come out and have fun then try to encourage two more H18s to join you so you have someone to argue with about the state of your boat. Otherwise it's unlikely anyone will make a fuss. It's far more likely they will be overjoyed to have a new sailor in the mix, offer you a beer, and try to get you to come to the next event.

Most of the serious guys have all moved on to Formula boats or A-cats. They aren't going to blink at an out of spec Hobie.

...and if i recall from my Hobie 18 Mag, the wings are pretty easy to take off and put back on when you are done.

The events I've been to were great fun without too much fuss or nit picking. To put things in perspective - at a race last year the RC was kidding me that he might have to handicap me because my 1994 H16 looked too "new" and still had all the numbers stuck to the sail.

I agree with you guys, inclusion rather than exclusion. How lenient you go regarding class rules will largely be dictated by the crowd you are sailing with, particularly at more informal events. I hedged a bit in my initial response in case get some serious comptitors show up, but the emphasis has to be on just getting people to show up and have fun. We can sort out the details later. We may have to tame any "serious competitors" a bit.

I am writing this from a kindle so please ignore some spelling/errors that show up.

I just got into sailing about 2 years ago and still get nervious sailing out in Charleston harbor. I know of 4 H16 s that are personal friends that want to race and just help build the fleets back up. I personally have a H18 and have a set of super R sails coming in from whirlwind and still have the original sails that came with my boat. I realky just wanted to say hello and if you ever need any help just hit me up. If I'm not working I'm glad to help with just about anything.

Btw I could still use some lessons to keep the boat going.

Edit: We try and get everyone in the Charleston area to join. ft. Moultrie beachcat sailors facebook group to hall out and let everyone know when people are going to be in the harbor sailing.

Sounds like you've got the makings of a Charleston Hobie Fleet! Go here, http://www.hcana.hobieclass.com/default.asp?Page=9284, and you'll find the extremely simple IHCA Fleet Charter Application. Just a bit of initiative and the desire to sail your Hobie with others is really all that it takes.

Hey MVD, is Division 9 based on Lake Hartwell or Lake Lanier? I ask because I am new to the sport and just bought a Hobie 16 several weeks ago and am still learning to sail and rig it. I would like to join a sailing club that primarily consists of catamarans and learn more from people with better knowledge than me. Please let me know how to sign up. Thnx!

I agrree with you guys, inclusion rather than exclusion. How lenient you go regarding class rules will largely be dictated by the crowd you are sailing with, particularly at more informal events. I hedged a bit in my initial response in case get some serious comptitors show up, but the emphasis has to be on just getting people to show up and have fun. We can sort out the details later. We may have to tame any "serious competitors" a bit.

Hey MVD, is Division 9 based on Lake Hartwell or Lake Lanier? I ask because I am new to the sport and just bought a Hobie 16 several weeks ago and am still learning to sail and rig it. I would like to join a sailing club that primarily consists of catamarans and learn more from people with better knowledge than me. Please let me know how to sign up. Thnx!

Division 9 is a regional group, not a local one.

It encompasses the states of NC, SC, GA and eastern TN.

Atlanta Hobie Fleet 12 was based at Lanier. I don't know the Hartwell fleet number off the top of my head, if there ever was one.

Thanks for your inquiry regarding Division 9. Matt Bounds is correct, Division 9 covers a broad region, a geographic subset of the North American Hobie Class Association. It sounds like you are looking for a fleet. Hobie Fleets are local grass roots organizations of sailors that get together and basically do whatever they want, typically centered around Hobies, although sometimes the focal point may be something different like a Super Bowl party or whatever. An obvious example of a fleet activity would be sponsoring a regatta or, as I hope we can do in Division 9, to spearhead partnerships with established regattas so that Hobie participation is increased.

However, there are many of us that don't race and I think it's important not to overlook the recreational sailors. One of the benefits of a fleet is that it provides a means of getting acquainted with other sailors in your area, and then basically you've got a pool of people to call to meet at the lake and go sailing with. My experience has been that it's usually more fun to have more boats on the lake even when you're not racing. If there's wind, a typical day on the lake will evolve into an informal hull flying contest or just trying to see if you can outrun the other guy on a screaming reach, or maybe just exploring the lake or sailing down to the marina for a burger. It's also good to be hooked into a local fleet so you've got people to bounce questions off of.

I'm trying to ascertain the status of fleets in the Division 9 area. As far as I can tell, the one in the Atlanta area has languished and isn't very active. I would like to find someone to revitalize it. That will be a topic of discussion when several of us meet at Lake Hartwell for the Spring Fever Regatta, March 29-31. Even if you don't want to race, you should try to head up there one day to catch a glimpse of a major regatta and to meet some other sailors in your area. Perhaps seeing some of our boats rigged up will give you ideas for setting up your new boat. Newbies are always welcome. Here's a link to Spring Fever: http://www.twinhulls.com/springfever2013/index.html. Hope to see you there.